Window system



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 fiC -i K ,wa'za I INVENTOR I ANTON IQAPPZ A. RAF'PL 2,366,127

I wmnow' SYSTEM g Filed Aug. 28, 194i this individual unit Patented Dec. 26, 1944 WINDOW SYSTEM Anton Rappi, Buflalo, N. Y. assignor to Products Corporation, Buffalo, N.

Trico Application August as, 1941, Serial No. 408,655

4 Claims. (01. 121-44) This invention relates to a closure operating mechanism and more particularly to a mechanism adapted for the opening and closing of windows and doors of motor vehicles. It has recently been proposed to raise and lower the windows of automobiles by the use of a pneumatic motor with the control for the motor arranged on the door or adjacent body portion of the vehicle accessible to the nearby passenger. The object of the present invention is to provide a system in which certain of the windows of the vehicle have individual controls for the nearby passengers and also a central control accessible to the driver of the vehicle whereby he may open or close the several windows without distraction from the I more important duty of steering and operating the vehicle.

A further object of the invention is to provide a system of this nature in which the individual as well as the central controls are wholly pneumatic and devoid of any complicated arrange- I ment involving the installation and upkeep.

The invention further has for an object to pro- I vide an improved control unit whichis simple and of practical design, as will be more fully set forth hereinafter, reference being now had to the accompanying drawing wherein,

. FIG. 1 is a view of the interior of the motor vehicle in phantom illustrating diagrammatically the general teaching of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through a cen tral control valve;

ably connected to a slotted bracket 8 on the lower edge of a window I so that when a fluid pressure diflerential acts upon the-piston 5 the bell crank will be rocked to move the window in the guide frame 2. The motor is pivotally mounted at 9 on the door body and in practice it is preferred to have the cylinder at the opposite sides of the piston normally in communication with the source of operating pressure, such as the intake manifold of the vehicle engine, so that whena pressure diiIerential is desired to actuate the'piston one end or the other of the cylinder will be vented I to the atmosphere by the control valve.

The fluid communications with the opposite ends of the cylinder are made through the passages or conduits I0 and I I to the individual or door moimted control unit, generally indicated by the numeral I2. In turn, the unit I2 is connected by passages or conduits I 0' and II' to the central control unit generally indicated by the numeral I3, there being one central control unit for each passenger window. The several central control units may be mountable and demountable on the instrument panel in a single battery arrangement, as shown in Fig. 1, and are connected by individual conduits II to the source of operating pressure. Since the individual control for the front passenger window in a four-door type of car, it arranged on the instrument panel instead or the 0 door, would be just as accessible to the front seat Fig. 3 is a similar view in fragment depicting the valve in-an intermediate position;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view about on line 4-4 of Fig. 2, but modified. thereover with respect to the structural valve detail; Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view through the individual or door mounted control unit;

Fig. 6 is a similar view partly in elevation of viewed at right angles to the plane of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a transverse sectional view through the central plane of Fig. 5 taken about on line 1-1 therein; and

Figs. 8 and 9 are sectional views of a further modification showing the control handle removed a distance from the valve.

Referring more particularly to the drawings,

' numeral I indicates the windows arranged to slide in vertical frames or guideways 2 in the doors 3. A pneumatic motor, comprising a cylinder or chamber 4 and a piston or fluid actuated member I, is connected by the piston rod 6 to one arm of a bell crank lever I, the opposite arm being slide 65 passenger alongside oi the driver and would! also be accessible to the driver, a single control 'unit I3 is arranged in the battery for such window to avoid the necessity of mounting a separate unit on the. door. Consequently the control unit I3 will be connected directly to the fluid motor for the front passenger window by its conduits I0 and II'.

. The body of the central control valve has a chamber I5 in constant communication through the passage 'or conduit I4 to the source of operating pressure and the opposite ends of this chamber open as ports I6 through the encircling valve seat into valve chambers I! which in turn communicate with the passages II and II. .Also opening into the valve chambers I! are atmospheric or venting ports I8 which are normally closed by valves I9. Each atmospheric port I8 and the adjacent suction port are preferably arranged in axial alinement to enable one valve serving for both ports of each set and thereby simplify the construction. One valve I! may therefore have a fixed guiding stem 20 slidably enga ed in a recess 2| of the companion valve to slidably support the same ior independent movement, there being a coil spring 22 encircling the guiding stem and acting to separate the valves and yieldably hold them against their seats about the atmospheric ports. The valves are preferably of the poppet type, the same being in the form of cylindrical plugs engaging on flat transverse seats about the ports l6 and I8 and also in cylindrical surrounding wall portions in which the valve bodies have a snug sliding lit; The spacing between the cylindrical portions of the seats is slightly less than the axial dimension of the valve body sov that the latter may bridge the space between such cylindrical seat portions when in an intermediate position to close both ports. Consequently there will be no intermediate position wherein both ports are simultaneously open and in which the atmosphere might sweep around the periphery of the'valve into the suction chamber l5.

Where two valves are employed in a single housing a common actuating button 23 is provided which is slidably supported on a finishing plate .24 and carries at its inner side a pair of pins 25 engaging in slots 26 of respective actuator bars 21, the latter in turn having angular extensions 28 overlying the stems 29 of the two valves I9. The arrangement is such that when the actuating button 23 is slid in one direction,

say in a downward direction with respect to the showing in Fig. 2, the upper pin 25 will slide its bar 21 downwardly to depress its valve l9 against the action of spring 22. This valve depression will initially close the suction port I6 and subsequently open the atmospheric port l8 to the passage H. A reverse movement of the button 23 will deal similarly with respect to the passage l. Therefore, the selected one of the two valves alone functions while the other valve remains dormant.

From the foregoing it will be observed that this construction enables a constant communication between the source of actuating pressure and the opposite ends of the motor cylinder 4 and that when one of the valves I9 is actuated to close off the pressure communication with one end of the cylinder, such end will be simultaneously opened to the atmosphere to create a pressure differential on the piston and accordingly move the window, the latter term being used herein broadly to include doors and other closures.

The door mounted controlis such that under normal conditions the actuating suction or pressure communication is maintained constant. However,'with the actuation of the door mounted control, the required operating pressure differential for the actuation of the fluid motor will be provided and to this end the door mounted or individual window control comprises a valve hous ng 30 having spaced pressure chambers 3! and an interposed atmospheric chamber 32 which latter opens to the atmosphere through a port 33 and filter body 34. Atmospheric ports 35 and suction ports 36 open respectively from the atmospheric and pressure chambers into valve chambers 31, the latter communicating with the motor conduits l0 and II. The ports 35 and 36 are of similar design to the ports "5 and H! for cooperating with similarly shaped valve bodies 38 which are slidably mounted on individual guide rods 39 anchored in the head pieces 40. A spring 4| normally holds each valve engaged with the seat about the atmospheric port 35 so that the pressure communication betw en the conduits Ill and I0 and II and II' are normally maintained,

The valve stems 42 extend into the atmospheric chamber 32 toward each other at opposite sides of a common actuating pin 33 carried by an actuator button 44. By moving the button 44 upwardly, in Figs. 5 and 6, the pin d3 will lift the upper valve 38 off its seat about the venting port 35 and onto the seat about port 36, there being an intermediate position in which the cylindrical seats are engaged simultaneously by the valve to momentarily close the valve chamber to both ports for the reasons set forth in connection with the similar action of valves E9 in Fig. 2. With the port 36 closed and the port 35 opened the passage II will be open to the atmosphere for creating the pressure differential for motor operation.

From the foregoing description it is believed that the operation will be obvious and that a. fluid control system is provided for the operation of the certain windows in which the Window ad justment may be effected either from a central control accessible to the driver of the vehicle or from an individual control accessible to the passenger near the window.

The atmospheric ports l8 open into atmospheric chambers 45 which in turn have screened communication with the outside atmosphere through a filter body 36, as shown more clearly in Fig. 4 wherein the valve body is slightly modified to the extent that the cylindrical valve body is formed and packed by a pair of opposing cup members 41 interposed by aspacer 48, these parts being held in assembled relation by the spring 22.

The controls for the drivers window and for the front passenger window need to be only the simple valve construction shown in Fig. 2, without the necessity of an individual unit E2 on the respective doors, although such individual units ma be employed, if desired. The control for the drivers window is preferably mounted directly on his own door although it may be arranged in the battery on the dash, if desired. When arranged on his own door the driver's valve may be removed to the lower portion ofthe door near the fluid motor and the actuator button 49 mounted on a separate plate 50 and connected to the valve actuating bar 5| by a rod 52 which is hung at its upper end on a pin 53 extending from the actuator button 49. The lower end of the remote control rod 52 may be formedwith an ofiset part 54 which is detachably engaged in an opening in the bar 5| as shown more clearly in Figs. 8 and 9.

The closure operating system may have .the

valve arrangement reversed so that the opposite ends of the cylinder will open normally to the atmosphere. Furthermore, the control units of the all-fluid or all-pneumatic system may be divided and separate actuating means maybe employed instead of the common actuators.

While the foregoing construction has been given in detail it is obvious that the inventive principles herein disclosed are capable of assuming other physical embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A closure system comprising a closure actuating fluid motor having a chamber and a relatively movable piston member therein, a pair of normally open pressure lines connecting the chamber at opposite sides of the piston member to a source of operating pressure whereby to normally fluid balance the piston member, a control valve means in each line having two normally communicating ports, one port connected to the fluid motor as aforesaid, each control valve means also having a venting port normally closed by a I means and through the latter to said source and theother of which latter ports is connected to the fluid motor whereby to normally maintain the aforesaid balanced state of the piston member, each of said second control valve means also having a venting port normally closed by a valve part which latter is movable to a position in which its venting port is opened and the sourceconnected. port is closed, whereby either pressure line may be vented at a plurality of points to unbalance the piston member and concurrently may be closed against pressure fluid leakage, and means selectively operable to 50 move either valve part of the second control valve means.

2. A closure system comprising a closure, at fluid motor for actuating the same and having a chamber and a relatively movable piston mem ber therein, a pair of normally open pressure lines connecting the chamber at opposite sides of the piston member to a source of operating pressure whereby to normally fluid balance the piston member by the pressure from the source, a control valve means in each line having two normally communicating ports, one port connected to the fluid motor as aforesaid and the other to the source,"each control valve means also having a venting port normally closed bya valve part, means operable for moving such valve part to open the normally closed Port to the motor for venting the latter and to close the other of said normally communicating ports for closing the pressure line against pressure fluid flow, and

a second control valve means interposed in each line between the companion one of the first control valve means and the source of operating pressure, each second control valve means having two normally communicating ports, one of which latter ports is connected through such companion first control valve means to said source and the other of which latter ports is connected to the fluid motor whereby to normally maintain the aforesaid balanced state of the piston member,

each of said second control valve means also having a venting port normally closed by a valve part which latter is movable to a position in which its venting port is opened and the sourceconnected port is closed, whereby either pressure line may be vented at a plurality of points to unbalance the piston member and concurrently may be closed against pressure fluid leakage.

3. A closure system comprising a closure, a fluid motor for actuating the same and having a chamber and a relatively movable piston member therein, a pair of normally open pressure lines connecting the chamber at opposite sides of the piston member to a source of operating pressure whereby to normally fluid balance the piston member by the pressure from the source, control valve means arranged in the pressure lines to maintain them normally open and operable to selectively close off the source and vent the motor through either line, and other control valve means interposed .between the first control valve means and the motor for maintaining them normally open and operable to selectively close either line to said source and vent th motor through the selected line.

4. A closure system comprising a closure, a fluid motor for actuating the same and having a chamber and a relatively movable piston member therein, a pair of normally open pressure lines connectin the chamber at opposite sides of the piston member to a source of operating pressure whereby to normally fluid balance the piston member by the pressure from the source,

a control valve means in each line having two normally communicating ports, one port connected to the fluid motor as aforesaid and the other to the source, each control valve means also having a venting port normally closed by a valve part, means common to both valve parts and operable for moving such valve part to open the normally closed port to the motor for venting the latter and to close the other of said normally communicating ports for closing the pressure line against pressure fluid flow, and a second control valve means interposed in each line between the companion one of the first control valve means and the source of operating pressure, each second control valve means having two normally communicating ports, one of which latter ports is connected through such companion first control valve means to said .source and the other of which latter ports is connected to the fluid motor whereby to normally maintain the aforesaid bal- .anced state of the piston member, each of said second control valve means'also having a venting port normally closed by a valve part which latter is movable to a position in which its venting port is opened and the source-connected port is closed,

whereby either pressure line may be vented at a plurality of points to unbalance the piston member and concurrently may e closed against pressure fluid leakage and being parts of the latter.

ANTON RAPPL.

common to both 

